Cleaning up

First I want to say, "Thank you," to everyone who came by for Amelia's birthday party last Saturday. Amelia had a lot of fun (especially playing with Hannah and Michael) and I really enjoyed seeing everyone together.

I know the drapes in my living room don't match at all. I'm working on it.

Let me tell you about Amelia's newest habit. Lately Amelia has wanted to help "clean up" around the house. This is very nice of her and sometimes comes in handy. For example, this afternoon while I was clipping the lavender and rosemary in our backyard Amelia was carrying off the clippings and placing them in our yard waste bin. That was great and very helpful.

On the other side of the coin is Amelia helping with the laundry. When she puts dirty laundry in the washer, it's great, but recently she's been opening my dresser and putting all my clean "unmentionables" in the washer. Daddy has pointed out that she could be doing much worse things around the house and he's right, but this does create a little more work for mommy.

Today Amelia tried to get mommy to help her relocate her lingerie into the washer. When I tried to coax her into quitting her fruitless work and taking a bath she said, "No, I'm cleaning up." Well, her heart's in the right place.

Amelia also had her three-year check-up today. She is doing well and remains tall and thin on the growth chart (75% for height, 25% for weight). Because of her contrary nature, I don't think she impressed the doctor with her brilliance (she has a bad habit of refusing to do things that are asked of her - even if they're simple things she would normally do on her own), but any three-year old who knows the alphabet and can sing, "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" is a smarty in my book.

Lisa